Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Operations Management
William J. Stevenson
9th edition
12-2 Aggregate Planning
Chapter 12
Aggregate planning
12-3 Aggregate Planning
Planning Horizon
Aggregate planning: Intermediate-range
capacity planning, usually covering 2 to 12 months.
The goal of aggregate planning is to achieve a
production plan that will effectively utilize the
organization’s resources to satisfy expected
demand.
Long range
Intermediate
range
Short
range
Planning Sequence
Figure 12.1
Economic,
Corporate competitive, Aggregate
strategies and political demand
and policies conditions forecasts
Establishes operations
Business Plan
and capacity strategies
Establishes
Aggregate plan
operations capacity
Resources Costs
Workforce/production rate Inventory carrying
Facilities and equipment Back orders
Policies Overtime
Inventory changes
Subcontracting
Overtime subcontracting
Inventory levels
Back orders
12-8 Aggregate Planning
Employment
Subcontracting
Backordering
12-9 Aggregate Planning
Proactive
Involve demand options: Attempt to alter
demand to match capacity
Reactive
Involve capacity options: attempt to alter
capacity to match demand
Mixed
Some of each
12-10 Aggregate Planning
Demand Options
Pricing
Promotion
Back orders
New demand
12-11 Aggregate Planning
Pricing
Pricing differential are commonly used to shift demand
from peak periods to off-peak periods, for example:
Some hotels offer lower rates for weekend stays
Some airlines offer lower fares for night travel
Movie theaters offer reduced rates for matinees
Some restaurant offer early special menus to shift some of
the heavier dinner demand to an earlier time that
traditionally has less traffic.
To the extent that pricing is effective, demand will be
shifted so that it correspond more closely to capacity.
An important factor to consider is the degree of price
elasticity of demand; the more the elasticity, the more
effective pricing will be in influencing demand patterns.
12-12 Aggregate Planning
Promotion
Advertising and any other forms of promotion,
such as displays and direct marketing, can
sometimes be very effective in shifting demand
so that it conforms more closely to capacity.
Timing of promotion and knowledge of
response rates and response patterns will be
needed to achieve the desired result.
There is a risk that promotion can worsen the
condition it was intended to improve, by
bringing in demand at the wrong time.
12-13 Aggregate Planning
Back order
An organization can shift demand to other periods
by allowing back orders. That is , orders are taken
in one period and deliveries promised for a later
period.
The success of this approach depends on how
willing the customers are to wait for delivery.
The cost associated with back orders can be
difficult to pin down since it would include lost
sales, annoyed or disappointed customers, and
perhaps additional paperwork.
12-14 Aggregate Planning
New demand
Manufacturing firms that experience
seasonal demand are sometimes able
to develop a demand for a
complementary product that makes
use of the same production process.
For example, the firms that produce
water ski in the summer, produce
snow ski in the winter.
12-15 Aggregate Planning
Capacity Options
Part-time workers
Inventories
Basic Strategies
Chase Approach
Advantages
Investment in inventory is low
Labor utilization is high
Disadvantages
The cost of adjusting output rates and/or
workforce levels
12-19 Aggregate Planning
Level Approach
Advantages
Stable output rates and workforce levels
Disadvantages
Greater inventory costs
Increased overtime and idle time
Resource utilizations vary over time
12-20 Aggregate Planning
Mathematical Techniques
Linear programming
Linear programming models are methods for obtaining
optimal solutions to problems involving the allocation of
scarce resources in terms of cost minimization or profit
maximization.
With aggregate planning, the goal is usually to minimize
the sum of costs related to regular labor time, overtime,
subcontracting, carrying inventory, and cost associated
with changing the size of the workforce. Constraints
involve the capacities of the workforce, inventories, and
subcontracting.
The aggregate planning problem can be formulated as a
transportation problem (special case of linear
programming.
12-27 Aggregate Planning
notes
Regular cost, overtime cost, and subcontracting cost are at
their lowest level when output is consumed in the same
period it is produced.
If goods are made available in one period but carried over
to later period, holding costs are incurred at the rate of (h)
per period.
Conversely, with back orders, the unit cost increases as
you move across a row from right to left, beginning at the
intersection of a row and column for the same period.
Beginning inventory is given a unit cost of 0 if it is used
to satisfy demand in period 1. however, if it is held over
for use in later periods, a holding cost of h per unit is
added for each period.
12-30 Aggregate Planning
Example
Given the following information set up the problem in a transportation table and
solve for the minimum cost plan.
period
1 2 3
demand 550 700 750
Capacity
Regular 500 500 500
Overtime 50 50 50
subcontract 120 120 100
Beginning inventory 100
Costs
Regular time $60 per unit
Overtime 80 per unit
Subcontract 90 per unit
Inventory carrying cost $1 per unit per month
$3 per unit per month
Back order cost
12-31 Aggregate Planning
Solution
The transportation table and solution are shown in the next slide.
Some entries require additional explanation:
a. Inventory carrying cost, h = $1 per unit per period. Hence, units
produced in one period and carried over to a later period will
incur a holding cost that is a linear function of the length of time
held.
b. Linear programming models of this type require that supply
(capacity) and demand be equal. A dummy column has been
added (nonexistent capacity) to satisfy that requirement. Since it
does not “cost” anything extra to not use capacity in this case,
cell costs of $0 have been assigned.
c. No backlogs were needed in this example
d. The quantities (e.g., 100, 450 in column 1) are the amounts of
output or inventory that will be used to meet demand
requirements. Thus, the demand of 550 units in period 1 will be
met using 100 units from inventory and 450 obtained from
regular time output.
12-32 Aggregate Planning
Optimal solution
Period Period Period Unused capacity
1 2 3 capacity
Period Beginning 0 1 2 0 100
inventory 100
Assumptions
1. The regular output capacity is the same in all periods.
2. Cost ( back order, inventory, subcontracting, etc) is a linear
function composed of unit cost and number of units.
3. Plans are feasible; that is, sufficient inventory capacity exists to
accommodate a plan, subcontractors with appropriate quality and
capacity are standing by, and changes in output can be made as
needed.
4. All costs associated with a decision option can be represented by a
lump sum or by unit costs that are independent of the quantity
involved
5. Cost figures can be reasonably estimated and are constant for the
planning horizon.
6. Inventories are built up and drawn down at a uniform rate and
output occurs at a uniform rate throughout each period.
12-36 Aggregate Planning
Average
= Beginning Inventory + Ending Inventory
inventory 2
12-37 Aggregate Planning
Cost calculation
Type of cost How to calculate
Output
Hire/layoff
Back order Back-order cost per unit × number of back order unit
12-38 Aggregate Planning
Example 1
Planners for a company that makes several models of skateboards are about to prepare the
aggregate plan that will cover six periods. They now want to evaluate a plan that calls for
a steady rate of regular output, mainly using inventory to absorb the uneven demand but
allowing some backlog. Overtime and subcontracting are not used because they want a
steady output. They intend to start with zero inventory on hand in the first period. Prepare
an aggregate plan and determine its cost using the following information. Assume a level
of output rate of 300 unit per period with regular time. Note that the planned ending
inventory is zero. There are 15 workers, and each can produce 20 units per period.
period 1 2 3 4 5 6 total
forecast 200 200 300 400 500 200 1800
Cost:
Regular time = $2 per skateboard
Overtime = $3 per skateboard
Subcontract = $6 per skateboard
Inventory = $1 per skateboard per period on average inventory
Back orders = $5 per skateboard per period
12-39 Aggregate Planning
Solution: example 1
Period 1 2 3 4 5 6 total
Forecast 200 200 300 400 500 200 1800
Output
Regular 300 300 300 300 300 300 1800
Overtime - - - - - -
Subcontract - - - - - -
Output-forecast 100 100 0 (100) (200) 100 0
Inventory
Beginning 0 100 200 200 100 0
Ending 100 200 200 100 0 0
Average 50 150 200 150 50 0 600
Backlog 0 0 0 0 100 0 100
Cost
Output
Regular $600 600 600 600 600 600 $3600
Overtime - - - - - -
Subcontract - - - - - -
12-40 Aggregate Planning
Example 2
After reviewing the plan developed in the preceding
example, planners have decided to develop an
alternative plan. They have learned that one is
about to retire from the company. Rather than
replace that person, they would like to stay with
the smaller workforce and use overtime to make
up for lost output. The reduced regular time output
is 280 units per period. The maximum amount of
overtime output per period is 40 units. Develop a
plan and compare it to the previous one.
12-41 Aggregate Planning
Solution: example 2
Period 1 2 3 4 5 6 total
Forecast 200 200 300 400 500 200 1800
Output
Regular 280 280 280 280 280 280 1680
Overtime 0 0 40 40 40 0 120
Subcontract - - - - - -
Output-forecast 80 80 20 (80) (180) 80 0
Inventory
Beginning 0 80 160 180 100 0
Ending 80 160 180 100 0 0
Average 40 120 170 140 50 0 520
Backlog 0 0 0 0 80 0 80
Cost
Output
Regular $560 560 560 560 560 560 $3360
Overtime 0 0 120 120 120 0 360
Subcontract - - - - - -
12-42 Aggregate Planning
Comment: example 2
The amount of overtime that must be scheduled has to
make up for lost output of 20 units per period for six
periods, which is 120. this is scheduled toward the center
of the planning horizon since that is where the bulk of
demand occurs. Scheduling it earlier would increase
inventory carrying costs; scheduling it later would
increase backlog cost.
Overall the total cost for this plan is 44640, which is $60
less than the previous plan.
Regular time production cost and inventory cost are
down, but there is overtime cost, however, this plan
achieves savings in back order cost, making it somewhat
less costly overall than the plan in example 1
12-43 Aggregate Planning
Master scheduling
The result of disaggregating the aggregate plan is a master schedule
showing the quantity and timing of specific end items for a
scheduled horizon, which often covers about six to eight weeks
ahead.
The master schedule shows the planned output for individual
products rather than an entire product group, along with the timing
of production.
It should be noted that whereas the aggregate plan covers an interval
of, say, 12 months, the master schedule covers only a portion of this.
In other words, the aggregate plan is disaggregated in stages , or
phases, that may cover a few weeks to two or three months.
The master schedule contains important information for marketing
as well as for production. It reveals when orders are scheduled for
production and when completed orders are to be shipped.
12-46 Aggregate Planning
Master Scheduling
Master schedule
Determines quantities needed to meet demand
Interfaces with
Marketing: it enables marketing to make valid
delivery commitments to warehouse and final
customers.
Capacity planning: it enables production to evaluate
capacity requirements
Production planning
Distribution planning
12-48 Aggregate Planning
Master Scheduler
Insufficient capacity
12-49 Aggregate Planning
Inputs Outputs
Beginning inventory Projected inventory
Master
Forecast Master production schedule
Scheduling
Master schedule
Inputs:
Beginning inventory; which is the actual inventory
on hand from the preceding period of the schedule
Forecasts for each period demand
Customer orders; which are quantities already
committed to customers.
Outputs
Projected inventory
Production requirements
The resulting uncommitted inventory which is
referred to as available-to-promise (ATP) inventory
12-52 Aggregate Planning
Forecast 30 30 30 30 40 40 40 40
Customer orders 33 20 10 4 2
(committed)
Projected on hand 31 1 41 11 41 1 31 61
inventory
MPS 70 70 70 70
Available to 11 56 68 70 70
promise inventory
(uncommitted)
12-57 Aggregate Planning
Notes
The requirements equals the maximum of the
forecast and the customer orders
The net inventory before MPS equals the
inventory from previous week minus the
requirements.
The MPS = run size, will be added when the net
inventory before MPS is negative ( weeks 3, 5, 7,
and 8).
The projected inventory equals the net inventory
before MPS plus the MPS (70).
12-58 Aggregate Planning